2010 Eat, Pray, Love Movie Based on Book by Elizabeth Gilbert Anna Karenina 2010 Movies Based on Books Read the Book Before You See the Movie. Which is better? You decide. Browse movies based on books. Eat, Pray, Love (Travel, Divorce, Discovery, Fulfillment, Adaptation) PLOT: In this memoir, Elizabeth Gilbert (Julia Roberts), decides that marriage and trying for children are not her true desires and decides to change the direction of her life. After going through a painful divorce, she takes off on a year long journey to discover pleasure in Italy, devotion in India and balance in Indonesia. AUTHOR: Elizabeth Gilbert 2010 Movies Based On Books List Movie Title Eat Pray Love (2010) The film opened the same week as Eric Roberts 's film The Expendables (2010). See more » Goofs: Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Liz was in the bathtub reading an Italian dictionary, she mispronounced the word "Macinapepe" (Pepper Grinder/Mill). In the Italian consonants, C before I or E is like the English ch.

Later, she mispronounced the word "Lascito" (legacy). Also in Italian, words with sci make a 'sh' sound. See more » Quotes: Liz Gilbert :In the end, I've come to believe in something I call "The Physics of the Quest." A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting... See more » Movie Connections: Author: jpatters-3 from United States Wow. I've always admired Julia Roberts, and was wondering how she would transition to a more mature actress. Not well. Why in the world would she have read this abomination of a script, and said, "Yes, I want to do that movie!"? And the other fine actors must have agreed because Roberts signed on. All the talent in this film can't correct the atrocious script. The film has four chapters, each of which introduces a new male character in a different part of the world, and charts her dysfunctional response to each. It's impossible, I suspect, to have developed each character and story all in a two hour movie.

It was so hollow, not only did I feel nothing for the characters (except Bardem), but I felt ambivalence toward them. Lots of narcissistic angst over nothing. The movie had nothing to say. I want my money back. More important, I want my two hours back. Was the above review useful to you? Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem in ‘Eat Pray Love’ - The New York Times The New York Times Movies | Movie Review | 'Eat Pray Love' Globe-Trotting and Soul-Searching Photo Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts in “Eat Pray Love.” Credit Franiois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures-Sony Pictures Entertainment The double standard in Hollywood may be stronger than ever. Men are free to pursue all kinds of adventures, while women are expected to pursue men. In a typical big-studio romantic comedy the heroine’s professional ambition may not always be an insurmountable obstacle to matrimony, but her true fulfillment — not just her presumed happiness but also the completion of her identity — will come only at the altar.

This paradigm is, of course, much older than the movies, but it can be refreshing, now and then, to see something different in the multiplex: a movie that takes seriously (or for that matter has fun with) a woman’s autonomy, her creativity, her desire for something other than a mate. The scarcity of such stories helps explain the appeal of movies like the two “Sex and the City” features, “Julie & Julia,” “The Blind Side” and now “Eat Pray Love,” a sumptuous and leisurely adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert ’s best-selling memoir of post-divorce globe-trotting. Directed by Ryan Murphy , who wrote the screenplay with Jennifer Salt, the film offers an easygoing and generous blend of wish fulfillment, vicarious luxury, wry humor and spiritual uplift, with a star, Julia Roberts , who elicits both envy and empathy. Playing a woman whose natural self-confidence is dented by disappointment and threatened by remorse, Ms. Roberts dims her glamour without snuffing it out altogether, as she tried to do in Mike Nichols’s unfortunate “Closer.” Her Liz Gilbert can be radiant and witty, and rarely doubts her essential attractiveness, but she also suffers uncertainty, ambivalence and real anguish.

The end of her marriage — to a kind, weak-willed oddball played by Billy Crudup — is wrenching before it has a chance to be fully liberating. And her rebound relationship, with a soulful younger actor (James Franco), only exacerbates Liz’s sense that she is drifting away from herself. Advertisement Continue reading the main story This may strike you as an abstract problem, and one that depends, for both its articulation and its proposed solution, on a high degree of material security and social entitlement. So many people in this world confront much graver threats to their well-being: violence, poverty, oppression. This woman has nothing but good luck! True enough, but the kind of class consciousness that would blame Liz for feeling bad about her life and then taking a year abroad to cure what ails her strikes me as a bit disingenuous — a way of trivializing her trouble on the grounds of gender without having to come out and say so. Continue reading the main story What “Eat Pray Love” has — what the superficial “Sex and the City 2” notably lacked — is a sense of authenticity.

Whether you decide to like Liz, and whether you approve of her choices and the expectations she has set for herself, it is hard not to be impressed by her honesty. The same can be said for Ms. Gilbert (to distinguish between the author and narrator of the book and the character she becomes when impersonated by Ms. Roberts). And the screenwriters, copiously sprinkling the author’s supple, genial prose into dialogue and voice-over, maintain a clear sense of her major theme. As the movie meanders through beautiful locations, grazing on scenery, flowers and food, it keeps circling back to the essential tension between Liz’s longing for independence and her desire to be loved. Photo Ms. Roberts in “Eat Pray Love.” Credit Franiois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures-Sony Pictures Entertainment Reflecting on her earlier life, she observes that for most of it she was either with a man or in the process of leaving one, and so in the first stages of her journey she experiments with singleness. Not with solitude, exactly, since Liz is naturally gregarious and acquires friends easily.

Back home in New York she has Delia (Viola Davis), and in Rome a Swedish woman named Sofi (Tuva Novotny) introduces her to an amicable group of Italians, including a fellow whose last name is Spaghetti (Giuseppe Gandini). While he is seen mainly in group shots, his namesake food is filmed in loving close-ups. In keeping with the theme of self-examination, Liz’s trip is confined to countries that begin with the letter “I.” From the trattorias and ruins of Italy, to an ashram in India, and then to Indonesia. At the ashram she meets a cantankerous Texan named Richard (Richard Jenkins) whose nickname for her is Groceries and whom she accuses of “speaking in bumper stickers.” This is a stone tossed from inside a glass house, given the aphoristic, wisdom-mongering tone of much of “Eat Pray Love,” but it is also a welcome wink of self-awareness, indicative of the good humor that redeems some of the film’s (and the book’s) muzzy therapeutic moments. The three themes enumerated in the title are explored with a cheerful tact unlikely to trouble any tastes or sensibilities.

The food is not overly spicy or exotic — spaghetti in Rome, pizza in Naples ; the religion not uncomfortably, you know, religious; and the sex discreet almost to the point of invisibility. In Bali Liz apprentices herself to an elderly shaman (the irrepressible scene stealer Hadi Subiyanto) and befriends a healer named Wayan (Christine Hakim). She also falls for Felipe, a divorced Brazilian expatriate, played with insouciant, unshaven charm by Javier Bardem . Will her feelings for Felipe cause her to abandon the self-sufficiency that had been the point of her quest? And because “Eat Pray Love” builds its climax around this question, does that mean, in the end, that it reverts to the man-centric romantic-comedy formula? Yes and no. Mr. Murphy, whose television work (“Nip/Tuck” and “Glee,” most notably) can be sharp-edged even to the point of meanness, is much softer here, and “Eat Pray Love” can serve as a reminder that television is, at the moment, a braver and more radical medium than the movies.

“Eat Pray Love” is unlikely to change anybody’s life or even to provoke emotions anywhere near as intense as those experienced, early and late, by its intrepid heroine. Its span may be global, but its scope is modest, and it accepts a certain superficiality as the price of useful insight. Watch. Smile. Go home and dream of Brazilians in Bali . “Eat Pray Love” is rated PG-13. A lot of grown-up feelings and situations, but no blood or skin, and just a bit of decorous swearing. EAT PRAY LOVE Opens on Friday nationwide. Directed by Ryan Murphy ; written by Mr. Murphy and Jennifer Salt, based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert ; director of photography, Robert Richardson; edited by Bradley Buecker; music by Dario Marianelli; production designer, Bill Groom; costumes by Michael Dennison; produced by Dede Gardner; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 13 minutes.

WITH: Julia Roberts (Liz Gilbert), James Franco (David Piccolo), Richard Jenkins (Richard From Texas), Viola Davis (Delia Shiraz), Billy Crudup (Stephen), Javier Bardem (Felipe), Giuseppe Gandini (Luca Spaghetti), Tuva Novotny (Sofi), Christine Hakim (Wayan Nuriyasih) and Hadi Subiyanto (Ketut Liyer). Eat Pray Love Writers Ryan Murphy, Jennifer Salt, Elizabeth Gilbert (Book) Stars Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis Rating R Eat, Pray, Love for sale as author puts home on market | Books | The Guardian Books blog Eat, Pray, Love for sale as author puts home on market Elizabeth Gilbert is selling her 'Italianate Victorian' home for just $1m. Buy it and you'll surely get a role in her next book thrown in Praying for a good price … Julia Roberts in the film version of Eat, Pray, Love (2010). Photograph: Everett/Rex Features Books blog Eat, Pray, Love for sale as author puts home on market Elizabeth Gilbert is selling her 'Italianate Victorian' home for just $1m.

Buy it and you'll surely get a role in her next book thrown in Share on Messenger Close Elizabeth Gilbert is selling her house in New Jersey, offering her fans an appetising opportunity to play a part in the inevitable follow-up memoir to Eat, Pray, Love, and so potentially become a character in the hit Julia Roberts movie 's sequel. On a dedicated website called Eat, Pray, Crib , Gilbert deploys all her gifts for gush in depicting the nine-room "mini-estate" (confusingly described as "Italianate Victorian" in style) as so perfect that her need to move is puzzling. Apparently it's so she and Jose – the Brazilian importer who provides the book with its happy ending, played by Javier Bardem in the film – can live closer to Two Buttons, their "pan-Asian emporium" in Frenchtown, NJ, which is so-called because the two "lifelong travellers" were told by "a priest in Laos that we had so much love for life that we needed nothing more than two buttons in our pockets to get by in this world".

Happily, her subsequent book and film earnings mean the priest's words will never have to be tested, and the house sale – asking price: $999,000 (£600m) – will take her further away from her years as a restless, far from affluent nomad hunting for a guy and a guru. Judging by Gilbert's paean to the property, though, it seems if anything to be underpriced: among its attractions are a 500-bottle wine cellar, a "chef's kitchen", a "powder room [with] an automated Japanese toilet-bidet and an exotic Balinese lava stone sink", and above all an attic "Skybrary" ("handcrafted for me over three years by a master woodworker") that is "too magical to be described". What may surprise admirers with a spare million dollars, however, is the lack of dedicated spaces for spiritual activity – there's no shrine, and even yoga is only catered for in a brisk mention of a "tastefully designed workout/yoga/home gym area".

Religion seems unlikely to figure in the title of Gilbert's next autobiographical volume, though it may be too cynical to guess that it might be called Write, Decorate, Sell. Eat Pray Love Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 320 out of 384 people found the following review useful: Me,me, me, me, me and the others 15 August 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** I felt self conscious and embarrassed somehow. Is this the model woman we should be inspired by? Oh my God! She's like a bad replica of a mediocre man. She abandons her husband and he's the one, quite rightly, who feels betrayed. She uses James Franco and then throws him away. Keeps Richard Jenkins at arms length until she discovers he has something that may be useful to her and then, Javier Bardem...She shouts at him I don't have to love you to love myself. What? She reeks of an awful case of selfishness but as she is played by Julia Roberts the whole thing becomes rather confusing. Is she a modern heroine? Oh God, I hope that wasn't the intention.

I felt as far away from her even further away from the character she played in "My Best Friend's Wedding" Remember that one? In that one she becomes a criminal, really, yes, a criminal, to ruin her friend's wedding. Oblivious to the fact that's he's clearly happy with Cameron Diaz. No, she's only worried about herself. I'm giving "Eat Pray Love" a 3 and not a 1 because some landscapes, geographic as well as culinary are, quite simply, breath taking. Also Javier Bardem is worth the price of the very expensive ticket. Was the above review useful to you? 267 out of 344 people found the following review useful: The greatest emotion I felt from the film was hunger (for Italian pizza), thirst (for Italian wine) from Oakland, CA 13 August 2010 I loved the book. I thought Julia Roberts as Liz was fantastic casting. The trailer looked awesome. I smiled every time I saw it. Turns out, I loved everything about this movie except the movie. Long story short, it's all of the arc of the book, without any of the passion. While never horrible, this film simply made me feel nothing.

I found the book soulful, moving, even transformative at times. The greatest emotion I felt from the film was hunger (for Italian pizza), thirst (for Italian wine), and an occasional dizziness due to director Ryan Murphy's apparent recent discovery of how to "pan." It was laughable camera-work throughout the first 45 minutes, and occasionally throughout. The first 1/2 hour of the film was almost unbearably bad, even though the first section of the book was amongst my favorites. Perhaps someone who did not read the book could enjoy this movie, but I somehow doubt it. One time Liz made a joke, that was a nice break from the feeling of being in a lukewarm bathtub for 2 1/2 hours. Not unpleasant, just meh. Instead of finding Liz intelligent and thoughtful, she seemed selfish, boring, and obsessed with men. Instead of finding spirituality, she seemed vapid. When the character becomes shallow, a film centered around that character becomes a throw away. Maybe I'll just watch the trailer again. Was the above review useful to you? 272 out of 364 people found the following review useful: What planet is she from?

from United States 15 August 2010 I love travelogues and I'm a fan of Julia Roberts but, what happened here? I'm not sure in what period, time wise, it this set. The only turmoil seems to be in this very selfish forty-something. What about the rest of the world? She goes for a sort of journey of discovery in a world that doesn't really exist. Did I miss something? No wars, no economic crisis, no nothing, only the intimate qualm of a woman who I, personally, cannot feel represented by. I grant you I'm from another generation but, please! What is this. I loved the food and Javier Bardem and it is in fact the Bardem episode that brings some kind of recognizable something to the proceedings. So, let me recapitulate and ask you if we've seen the same movie...A woman facing an existential crisis and moves out from her marital abode without even having a discussion about it with her husband - a scrumptious Billy Crudup - then she has an affair with James Franco - who wouldn't, right? - but the Franco in this movie is just a plain reflection of the Franco from "Milk" just to name one title.

The Naples presented here seems out of the mind of someone who's never been to Naples. I don't know what to say. I'm a bit puzzled and, I should confess, a bit annoyed. Was the above review useful to you? 262 out of 349 people found the following review useful: This. Movie. Sucks. from United States 18 August 2010 Never read the book and thanks to this well-produced wretched film never will. The IMDb synopsis is inaccurate... you get no sense this broad is trying to have a kid or that her marriage has been failing. She one day decides she doesn't want it anymore and, props to the acting of Crudup, the husband has no reason to know why. Her subsequent lover is left with the same "huh?" moment. It's as if she needs to punish anyone who treats her well. Only good looking men fall in love with Liz, and everyone admires her. She dumps her lovers and husband and the only friend that will tell her what she needs to hear, in the belief that "balance" lies so far outside herself that she has to travel the world (on a very tight schedule) to seek enlightenment.

How she pays for it is never hinted at. And to have this bone-thin creature lecture another bone-thin creature on the need to "just enjoy eating, we can always buy a bigger pair of jeans" is insulting AND laughable. That the scene is followed by two bone-thin actresses faking attempts to "squeeze into" jeans is just insulting. And the punch line? The woman who has wasted 2.5 hours of your life whining that everyone around her says she needs a man finally finds "balance"... by finding a man. And FYI EVERY man in this film is sensitive and caring. I have to say that the direction and very good supportive acting presents an effective image of all sorts of energetic life going on around Liz (and inviting her to be part of it) while she sits whining to herself in voice-over. But the unreality of EVERYONE LOVING HER is just a bit lame. Fiction? Not much. Oh, and why did I spend money to see this? A friend convinced me it would be great, and she is such a good friend and enjoyed it so much I will never tell her exactly how much I despised it. See? For people you care about sometimes you hold yourself back.

FYI Richard Jenkins is the only person Julia Roberts' Liz really connects to... and even that is ruined by a last-minute "Hollywood" moment. No spoiler here, you'll see it lumbering toward you like an elephant in the desert. Was the above review useful to you? 264 out of 384 people found the following review useful: Beautiful to look at -- but impossible to care about from United States 12 August 2010 When I read the book last year, I had just lost my job, was looking for a new one and eating everything that was bad for me, so I enjoyed Liz's misery and newfound joys. But now that I'm content, in this new phase of life, I find myself annoyed by people who create their own drama and then whine about it. So I would not have enjoyed the book if I were to read it now. Although everyone does a good job in this film, and the scenery is breathtaking -- now I want to go to Rome!!!-- I really couldn't stand Liz.

She has everything but whines about how "I don't even know how to be HERE!" I meet people in my new job who are fighting cancer every day -- they deserve the opportunity to whine (and few do, I might add). But pretty people who have everything and think they deserve more just tick me off. And it was a long painful sit. I do love the men in this movie -- each one of them is so good. And Julia Roberts does what she can with this selfish character. I just don't want to spend any more time with spoiled Liz. The time I spent watching her only ticked me off. I cannot recommend it, unless you're self centered, indulged and rich -- this could be your inspiration. Phoo! Was the above review useful to you? 166 out of 222 people found the following review useful: I have never written a review before.... 13 August 2010 *** This review may contain spoilers *** But this is easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. However, there are some (very small) silver linings. For instance, with Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins, Billy Crudup, James Franco, and Javier Bardem, I had high expectations.

I award one half star for each actor, and round up out of kindness. But then... the movie started, and the most agonizing 2+ hours of my life ensued. First, some background information. I went to see Eat Pray Love for my dear mother and free popcorn. She asked me earlier today, and I, being the loving son, agreed to accompany her. Within ten minutes I had realized what a disastrous mistake I had made. I am an empathetic person, and I had no idea it was possible for a film to give me have no feelings whatsoever for protagonist. That is not true, at times I wanted her to be hit by a train. I have never left a movie that I had paid for, but eventually my mother and I were plotting ways to escape. We settled on screaming "Mouse!" or "Rodent!" or "Fire!" but decided it was not worth the social awkwardness. Instead we sat through, as I said, the most agonizing 2+ hours of film, ever. A summary ensues...

Whine-Whine-Divorce-Whine-Cry-Travel-Whine-Eat-Whine-Feminist Bullshit-Whine-Elevate Importance-Whine-Whine-Travel-Whine-Attempt Meditation-Whine-Get Better at Meditation with help of Hippie-Whine-Elevate Importance to Unknown Levels-Whine-Whine-Travel-Whine-Whine-"Fall in Love" I think that is pretty much it. Do not see this film. Was the above review useful to you? 155 out of 201 people found the following review useful: Epidermic Journey from Italy 19 August 2010 I did read the book but, I had hoped that this was going to be like "The Bridges Of Madison County". The film so much better than the book thanks to Meryl Streep's Francesca, a woman I could follow and learn from in every way. Here, my hero, Julia Roberts is as static as the page that originated her character. I couldn't and wouldn't get interested in her. Women, no matter how independent, remain nurturers by nature. I was desolate.

I sided with her husband, Billy Crudup, totally. And what about the younger guy, James Franco, she takes instead of giving and she also takes from Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem in Bali. It is in fact in Bali where I detected a glimpse of real emotion an emotion provoked by somebody else's feelings. I could see a film about that woman. Julia feels detached, as if she was just going through the motions. I'm sorry critics and public ganged up against her for her work in "Mery Reilly" An actress of Julia's talent and beauty could have contributed a sensational gallery of different women. Instead she seems stacked in this shrill, angry lady with very little to say. Was the above review useful to you? 253 out of 415 people found the following review useful: Pray for mercy from United States 11 August 2010 If you've kept up with my reviews (lets pretend you have), you are going to find that the genre I touch most seldom is the romantic comedy. They are by nature a contagious quagmire of failed puns, roads repaved with familiar plots, and their stars have signed with the devil. Enter Julia Roberts, queen of the romcom.

No doubt a talented actress, if not the most famous of her generation, Julia has played a big role in cashing in on the average woman's dream. In her latest effort Julia plays Liz Gilbert in the autobiographical book turned movie Eat Pray Love. Liz is a writer visiting Bali in search of a wise/toothless medicine man. He reads the palm of her hand and she takes everything to gospel. Leaving behind husband Stephen (Billy Crudup), Liz seeks out new adventure in the form of exotic cuisine, Eastern religion, and male suitors. Eat Pray Love is directed by Ryan Murphy. Murphy is best known as the creator of Glee, last year's breakout TV show about misfits who triumph through song. With his name in the mix people are going to be disappointed that Julia and friends don't break out into song and dance. Even if you consider that Murphy could have interests outside of musicals, you'd expect some sassy dialog exchanges like those seen on the show between the characters Will Schuester and Sue Sylvester. Hate to disappoint you but that's not going to happen either.

Julia Roberts is a darling despite the degrading material and I'm sure the draw of her chowing down will appeal to the target demographic until they realize that phase is left behind once Liz leaves Italy. If this were the story of a woman looking for the best things in life, I wouldn't take as much issue as I do. See, that's how one half of the population would view the plot. I see it more along the lines of a typical entry in the long catalog of films where the female lead has no idea what she's looking for in her life so she does whatever is irrational and fun because that's how movie magic works. Liz throws out a man who has given the viewer no reason for dismissal, but this is standard procedure in a chick flick because here woman can do anything and their lives will always improve. I've encountered far too many girls who take these plots to heart and implement them in the real world, leaving a trail of confused men in their wake. I'm a guy, and I'm not dumb enough to think that all the explosions I see in the films designed for my gender need to be realized at home. What Eat Pray Love has going for it is a borderline competency that lifts it slightly above film festival rejects.

Actually the presence of A-list talent and obvious travel expenses add more to the production value than any cinematic technique on display. Many scenes are littered with mishandled lights, resulting in a glaucoma simulation that gave me a headache. It's even a tossup as to whether or not to anoint the audio as clear since half of Javier Bardem's dialog would be read as inaudible should one rent the Blu-ray down the road and turn on subtitles. Speaking of Bardem, his character's late appearance goes against every screen writing rule. In fact, it felt like I was two hours into Eat Pray Love before I started to question whether or not I had seen him in the TV spots. There is so little of consequence taking place that I don't understand why this is a movie. Plenty of books have plots that don't equate into a two-hour film and many of those actually have tension. Liz's only conflict is from her own sociopath concepts. She's established early on as a poor playwright, highly gullible, and dare I say spoiled. These are not desirable traits. It's amazing how easily everyone accepts Liz.

Italy, India, and Indonesia extend nothing but open arms and everyone who she turns to for advise is essentially the same character with the one exception being Richard from Texas (Richard Jenkins)the sole character that doesn't seem to exist for Liz's personal amusement. I haven't seen such a patronizing, boring, alleged comedy in years. Eat Pray Love is a marathon that will surely test any burgeoning relationship and possibly cause a divorce. Girls, if your male friend can stomach this you've either found an idiot or a liar. Pray for mercy. Was the above review useful to you? 143 out of 202 people found the following review useful: The Freudian Pizza from Los Angeles, USA 14 August 2010 Two moments have stayed with me, one in particular: Javier Bardem crying as he says goodbye to his 19 year old son. The moment provokes a reaction on Julia Roberts's character that makes her totally human. The moment comes on the last third of the film so I thought it was a bit too late to start my relationship with her. The other moment happens at the beginning after she decides to walk away from her marriage and realizes she has broken her husband's heart.

Terrific Billy Crudup fighting back tears as the elevator door closes. I love Julia Roberts but I can't quite buy her "philosophical face" 42 years of age in the new millennium is far too young for that kind of crisis, specially when the crisis is provoked by something missing in her. So, okay, a journey of discovery, but then...? The discovery is that she knew it all along. What next. I must say the guys in the movie get the prize, third price really. The first price goes to the location, second price to the food - goodness, the food! - and third to the guys. Bardem fantastic, Richard Jenkins superb - Billy Crudup surprisingly real, James Franco also great and Luca Argentero another plus. Was the above review useful to you? 159 out of 241 people found the following review useful: More like "Sit, Stare, Yawn" from United States 17 August 2010 The only way to make a movie with an unlikeable, selfish, self-absorbed protagonist worse is to make it WAY too long. That is what we have here, folks. This movie is a monument to both feminist narcissism and boredom.

Robert's character whines and complains about a life that most people would love to trade places with. The direction was surprisingly sub-par, as was the acting. Overweight lonely secretaries that have read the book MAY make it through to the end, but everyone else will either be in deep REM or left the theater. Nice scenery for a bicycle ride does not a great movie make. Not kidding, the storyline here is so bad that it makes "Showgirls" look like "L.A. Confidential." This is not even worth a Redbox buck. Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 31: 'Julia Roberts Doppleganger': 'Eat, Pray, Love' Author Elizabeth Gilbert On Good Morning America | The Huffington Post 'Julia Roberts Doppleganger': 'Eat, Pray, Love' Author Elizabeth Gilbert On Good Morning America 08/13/2010 01:21 pm ET | Updated May 25, 2011 290 "Julia Roberts' doppelganger" is what George Stephanopoulos called Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the monumental blockbuster book, "Eat, Pray, Love," on Good Morning America.

The author appeared on the show to discuss the film adaptation of her best-selling memoir. Gilbert took no pictures or videos during her one-year journey of self-discovery that became the subject of her memoir. As a result, the film is "a chronicle of your life that you didn't have," as Stephanopoulos pointed out. Gilbert admits to "shaking and crying" throughout the first screening of the film, explaining the film is like a "surreal home movie." Are you going to see it even if you've read the book? WATCH: Love, Travel, Sell - The New York Times The New York Times Fashion & Style |Love, Travel, Sell Search Fashion & Style | Minding the Store With | Elizabeth Gilbert Love, Travel, Sell Continue reading the main story Photo The “Eat, Pray, Love” author at her New Jersey shop. Credit Tom White for The New York Times MOST husbands call their wives to ask what cut of steak to bring home from the grocery store.

Elizabeth Gilbert ’s husband rang her from Vietnam and asked, “Do I have permission to buy a 7,000-pound marble Buddha?” Her answer: “You don’t need permission, ever.” That eight-foot-high Buddha now beams down beatifically outside the entrance to Two Buttons, a store jam-packed with curios from Southeast Asia. Ms. Gilbert, the author of the 2006 memoir “Eat, Pray, Love,” owns the shop in Frenchtown, N.J., with her husband, José Nunes. The Buddha can be yours for a mere $32,000. “My husband will sell you anything, anything,” Ms. Gilbert, 41, said as she gave a tour of the store on a recent weekday. Ms. Gilbert is far better known as a writer than shopkeeper. “Eat, Pray, Love” chronicled the healing year she spent traveling through Italy, India and Indonesia after a wrenching divorce; her best-selling follow-up memoir, “Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage,” was published in January. The Brazilian-born Mr. Nunes, 58, a gemstone dealer who wooed Ms.

Gilbert when both were living in Bali, is better known, at least to readers of “Eat, Pray, Love,” by the pseudonym Felipe. At Two Buttons, the reserved Mr. Nunes happily shook this reporter’s hand and later offered a glass of wine. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Writing can be a lonely business, so the gregarious Ms. Gilbert — currently between books — pops in frequently at the shop. She can stroll over from her house a half-mile away, and is often accompanied by her dog, Rocky. “I don’t have the temperament of a writer; I have the temperament of a salesclerk,” said Ms. Gilbert, a willowy blonde who was dressed in a gray T-shirt, green capri pants and flats. “I like meeting and talking to people.” She and Mr. Nunes settled in Frenchtown, a restored mill town along the Delaware River — “It’s Brigadoonesque,” she said — in 2007, the same year they wed. (It’s marriage No. 2 for both.) They had just returned from nearly a year spent traveling on the cheap through Southeast Asia while waiting for Mr. Nunes’s American visa issues to be resolved.

During those travels, the idea for the store was born. “We did what the lawyers all tell you not to do,” Ms. Gilbert said, “we made plans.” They began buying knickknacks, shawls, jewelry, deities and furniture in local markets, and sent their haul back in two shipping containers. Two Buttons opened in November in an 8,000-square-foot space in a former electronics factory. Ms. Gilbert bought and renovated the building with money derived from selling the movie rights to “Eat, Pray, Love.” “This should be called the Julia Roberts Memorial Building,” she said. Ms. Roberts plays Ms. Gilbert in the movie, which opened on Friday. So, was it perfect casting? “I do not have any trouble telling the difference between me and Julia Roberts,” Ms. Gilbert said, with a laugh. Declaring that she can’t be objective about the film, she said she loved it. “I cried the whole time. It was like seeing a home movie, only one shot by Martin Scorsese’s cinematographer,” Ms. Gilbert said, referring to Robert Richardson. “Watching Javier Bardem” — the Spanish star portrays Mr.

Nunes — “I fell in love with my husband all over again.” The movie is likely to bring more fans into the store. “They tell me, ‘Your book was really important to me,’ and then they want to know where the bracelets and the scarves are,” Ms. Gilbert said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story On this afternoon, there were no fans, just a few friends, including Al Kurylka, the local police chief. He was delivering a receipt for a donation the store had made toward a police-sponsored picnic for Frenchtown’s children. “You’re looking trim,” Ms. Gilbert told Chief Kurylka. He beamed. As she navigated through the store, Ms. Gilbert pointed out favorite items. “Perfect for paper clips,” she said, holding up a teak box. At a display tree adorned with metal and glass bangles, she vowed, “If I were a 9-year-old girl, I would have killed and field-dressed someone to have these gorgeous, sparkly bracelets on my arm.” Then she came to a display of small primitive-looking heads, carved from volcanic rock and mounted on stakes, from Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. “These are boundary gods,” she said.

“They protect and watch over your boundaries. I give them to every woman I know. I keep one next to my computer to remind myself not to say ‘yes’ to everyone.” That god will come in handy Oct. 15, the date Ms. Gilbert has picked to start writing her next book, a novel. And the little deity fits so much more easily onto her desk than a 7,000-pound Buddha. A version of this article appears in print on August 15, 2010, on Page ST7 of the New York edition with the headline: Love, Travel, Sell. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

Question: In the 2010 film, Eat, Pray, Love who plays the part of the book's author?
Answer: JULIA ROBERTS